Dan Hong Gao (蛋烘糕), A Chengdu Snack I Remember Well
Last month, I saw a trending post on Xiaohongshu/RED (a Chinese social media platform). A traditional Chengdu snack had appeared in Shanghai, turned into something like a pancake-style dessert with creative fillings, priced at around 25 RMB each.
Fancy Dan Hong Gao in Shanghai. | Credit: first,每天都要吹泡泡 Second, happysusu
If you come to Chengdu today as a visitor, you can still find this kind of egg baked cakes on the streets, usually around 5 RMB each. It’s a very common street snack. But what I still miss most is the egg baked cake I had outside my primary school.
When I was old enough to start school, I moved with my parents to the outskirts of Chengdu, to a place called Chadunzi. It used to be the main route heading west out of the city, towards Dujiangyan and the western Sichuan plateau. In the past, it was also called “Jinniu Dam.” Because many travelers needed a place to rest before entering the city, tea houses were set up along the road, which is how the name “Chadunzi” came about.
As a kid, the first thing I looked forward to after school every day was using the pocket money my parents gave me to buy a Dan Hong Gao. It was also the only street stall my mom allowed me to eat from among all the vendors outside the school.
The uncle who made them was always clean and tidy, wearing a white apron. He made all his fillings himself, which made people trust him. His stall was built from a modified three-wheeled bicycle. At the back, there was a glass display case, with two small stoves holding round copper pans about 15 cm in diameter. In front of the pans were rows of different fillings.
His business was always good. There was always a long line. But I never felt bored waiting. I liked watching him through the glass, the way he worked smoothly, almost like a rhythm. He would alternate between the two pans, pouring batter into the left one, lifting and rotating it slightly to spread the batter evenly, then covering it to cook. Then he would move to the right pan, and by then the left one would be ready for fillings. And he would just keep going like that.
Back then, these were heated over coal stoves. Credit: RED Sumbean
Dan Hong Gao dates back over a hundred years. It is said to have started near Wenmiao Street in Chengdu, close to the well-known Shishi High School. A vendor got the idea while watching children play pretend cooking games. He mixed eggs, fermented flour, and brown sugar into a batter, made a small copper pan, and cooked it over a flat stove. Once done, fillings were added, savory or sweet, with many different options.
At this uncle’s stall, my favorite was always the savory one, minced pork with preserved mustard greens that he cooked fresh every day. The heat from the cake would melt the pork fat, while the mustard greens balanced it out. The outside was slightly crisp, and when you took a bite, you got the soft cake, the richness of pork fat, and the savory depth of the filling.
Now, it’s rare to find egg baked cakes like the ones I had back then. For me, the best version has a slightly charred exterior, with a soft and airy inside. You can taste the egg and the brown sugar clearly. In the past, that slight char was even part of the character.
The batter itself was key. I always felt that uncle had his own ratio and method, something you couldn’t easily copy.
As for fillings, nowadays most places don’t make them with the same care. Savory fillings have been simplified into things like chili sauce or stir-fried pickled vegetables.
At his stall, you could mix and match freely. Besides choosing sweet or savory, there was also something called “strange flavor,” where you could combine both. You could pick up to three fillings, creating dozens of combinations. As a kid, I never got tired of trying different ones.
My favorite strange flavor was minced pork with mustard greens, peanut powder, and chili sauce.
Now that egg baked cake is becoming popular again on social media, I often think about that small green cart outside my school. I don’t know if I’ll ever find that kind of “real” egg baked cake again.
Co-founder of Snout & Seek and FARLAND, ZhuangZhuang is passionate about understanding the local cultures of different ethnic groups through an anthropological lens. She aims to share the sustainable wisdom of these cultures with a wider audience through publications, products, and other methods. Zhuang enjoys photography, jazz music, cute animals, and Chinese traditional divination culture.
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